'84 MasterCraft ballast
 

I have a 1984 MasterCraft Stars & Stripes and I'm looking to add some weight , but i'm not sure how much to add. Any suggestions?

I have an 89. I put a tube sac up in the closed bow and a rear seat sac across the back. The wake is great.
Thanks,
Spencer

How much weight are your sacks?

Do what Spencer said or get a pair of 500-750 to put on each side of the doghouse. One cool thing you can do is pull the back seat out and flip around. Push forward so that the seat is up against the back of the dog house. Then you can fit a 750 or so at the very back. That gives you the weight you want in the back plus rear facing seats although your legs will be restin gon the bag.

My dad's old one I had when I lived on the lake.

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7459672_n.jpg

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4055401_n.jpg

We have an 87 Prostar and have 3 fly highs. A 900 on the floor behind the doghouse, a 450 on the seat behind it, and 450 under the bow. That bow bag sucks to fill and empty without an extension hose, but it makes the wake really nice.

I found that adding the bag on the side of the motor compartment didn't work for me. My hinges are too old and the force of the bag pushes it over too much. Thats why I go with a rear bag and a front bag. I use the Fly High W744 check valve fitting to fill and drain my front bag. It is kind of a pain but the check valve stops the water from spilling out.

I run 450lbs sack under the nose, and a 850 lbs sack in the rear. Wake is pretty fun. Balancing the weight port to starboard can be a little tricky though unless you have a few people to move around.

This could take a while for me to figure out theres just so may options i can do!

a few things you can do. I have a response LX, so my bow is open but that doesn't really change what i'm going to say. In my boat, for real "wake" days (meaning we have 3-4 people total) i have a 680# rear seat sac in the back in place of the seat (somebody usually sits back there and films), a 580# sac on each side of the engine and depending on how we want the wake to be that day, i put anywhere between 500, and 700something in the bow and of course the wedge is always down, but you dont' have that option. you can just do the back and the front excluding the side sacs, but IMO the side sacs make a narrow boat a little more "sturdy" meaning it isn't AS sensative to somebody being in the boat and where he has to sit. also, if we have days where we are bringing more people out in the boat, i'll just put the side sacs out and the bow sac in (wedge down of course) but what i do on those days is push the side sacs as far back as you can so it actually gives you some "rear weight" and still allows a few people to use the seat in the back. if i were you in that boat, start with getting a couple of 600-750 bags and at least a 450 in the bow. that way you can just do one 750 in the rear and the bow sac, or put them on the sides of the engine as far back as you can, its better to have more bags than you need IMO than not have enough haha.

I think I'm going to get around a 600 for the rear 450 ish for the front and a set of 225 for the sides if need be
So will around 1200lbs be to much stress on this little boat?

How about 1800!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 700,400,400,400. normally I just go with 700rear and 400 up front that way you can walk around the boat. Add a sundeck/fatsac holder. The girls love it!!

that should be good. you'll have to play around with it. honestly if i were you i'd get bigger side bags and just not fill them up all the way or something just in case you want bigger and your not stuck with them. but that's just me.

looks good andrew. is that only 1800? do you not have anything in the bow. we run around 25-2600 in my direct drive with the wedge in the back, but i'd figure you couldn't get that things nose to sit down at all or plane if you didn't have anything in the bow with all that weight.

Ah, the good old days of a a10k boat filled with sacs and having fun with friends. Now it is 130k G23 Natuques and Xstars.

Yep..400 in the nose. And i have the same prop as the 130K boats so it will leap out of the water. You just cant let off the throttle FAST or she will sink nose first. lol

nice, yea i have an acme 911 on mine, she'll pull a house out of the water i'm sure! prop is definitely very important in these boats with that much weight!

Most of those had the 351 PCM it seemed. The 351 Windsor is a beast.

I have been stoked on the 351. I did put the Acme 543 (1" bore left hand prop) on there and it made a huge difference. I wakeskate behind the boat a ton so getting that extra hole shot was important.

Ok, ill think about it a little more, Brett I do have the 351 Wndsor with the powerslot I'm not worried about the get up and go more worried about the other things that could go wrong on a 28 year old boat. And it wast a 10k boat! :)

John, I wouldn't worry about to much. My dad has had 2 different stars and stripes power slots. They were both built like friggen tanks. When I was in high school I think I had 12 people in it, or on it I should say. 2 people had to ride on the bow. Haha. Literally, we almost had nothing go wrong with either boat unless it was self inflicted. I don't think you will ever get a crazy good wake out of the boat. You simply can't get enough weight in it before it is about to sink. It is way too flat bottom. That said I really like the wake as a beginner. It stayed super clean and pretty solid if there wasn't too much weight in the rear. I would think 750-1000 in the rear plus 350-500 in the front would be pretty nice. You may have to unscrew the divers foot thing and move it closer to the driver. Then you might be able to get a 350 or so up there. Maybe add a hundred or 2 in lead.

Thanks for the input brett!

best MC graphic... ever!